No Forgiveness With No Escape
by Black Lightning Bolt
Summary: He should have let Danny escape. Escape before he did something he would regret and never be able to take back. Spoilers for the whole series, including the killer. 100% in line with canon


**A/N: Just a little piece I felt the need to write upon watching the finale of Broadchurch.**

**Warnings: Canon slashy thoughts, many mentions of paedophilia, mentions of canonical character death and suicide, spoilers for the whole series.**

**Pairings: One sided Joe/Danny (of a kind)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Broadchurch but have a lot of respect for the writers, actors and the rest of the crew.**

**Summary: He should have let Danny escape. Escape before he did something he would regret and never be able to take back. Spoilers for the whole series, including the killer. 100% in line with canon.**

Joe knew what he felt was wrong. There was no way it could be described as anything else. Danny was just a kid; an eleven year old who needed to gain the courage to talk to his father but couldn't. He should have encouraged him to try and talk to Mark. He should have helped strengthened the relationship between father and son, not let the rift between them expand until their relationship shattered. Only he had done it anyway because he had wanted to pick up the pieces, because Danny was pure and sweet and so irresistible that he couldn't help but want him. So maybe that made him sick in the head but he couldn't control how he felt.

That wasn't to say he didn't love Ellie or his family anymore. He stilled loved them but it wasn't the same anymore. It was almost like a switch had flipped in his head and it was stuck on Danny. The boy had wormed his way into Joe's heart and brain without him realising it until it was too late. So he had let it happen and Danny had seemed happy enough. It wasn't as if Joe was touching him in inappropriate ways – just hugging and talking – and anyone could buy another person presents.

Then it had changed and Danny had started to get scared of him. Only Joe didn't want to lose him. He didn't want Danny to leave, run and never come back. So he had calmed the boy each time he had become anxious. Joe had convinced him that what they were doing wasn't wrong while his conscience hissed that it was wrong and that Danny should run, _run,__** run**_ from the monster that Joe was becoming. Escape before Joe did something he would regret even more and would never be able to take back. Yet he didn't because he was selfish and then it was too late.

Danny hadn't been convinced by his pleading and had finally seen the light on his own. He'd seen what Joe really was and had run from him like he should have done way before that fateful night. And Joe? Joe knew he should have let him go but he couldn't. Seeing Danny run out of that door had been too painful. Thus he had given chase and convinced Danny one last time and the boy had shown his age then; naïve, pure and innocent. Danny had believed him and in turn had been killed.

In a fit of mindless rage Joe had both destroyed someone he professed to love and become a murderer at the same time. The monster he'd become had shown its true colours and it was black as pitch just like his rotten and corrupt soul. If he hadn't already been heading there Joe was certain he would go to hell for killing someone as pure as Danny. Horrified at his behaviour he had hid from it; removing the evidence and getting rid of the body before crawling into bed next to his wife with tear-filled eyes and guilt eating at his insides like rats.

And then he had watched as Danny's murder became the biggest news in Broadchurch; watched as the detective's found suspects and evidence from secrets and lies littered through their small town, watched names get dragged in the mud because of his failings and shame sweep through each and every one of them as their dignity was stolen by the hungry media news teams. Still Joe had kept his silence until his self-centred actions led to a second death and his soul was tainted that much more. For he may not have raised a knife or gun or even a hand to Jack Marshall but it was he who had led the old man to death. His silence had been the defining factor that had drove Jack to take his own life and really it was disgustingly ironic. Jack had killed himself for being accused of being paedophilic in nature towards Danny and, upon Danny's rejection, killing him in rage.

The people of Broadchurch were right – they just had the wrong man.

Joe didn't want to think of it that way but he supposed that many would see him as a paedophile due to his love for Danny even if he had never touched the boy that way. He had known better than that. Danny had only been eleven and Joe had drawn himself lines he would not cross even if he had sometimes wanted to. He may be a monster but he would never become _that _kind of monster.

Only Jack's suicide changed things and put his thoughts into perspective. He needed to end this and tell the truth. He needed to pluck up the courage and confess his sins so he could be punished justly for what he had done. The phrase 'easier said than done' had never been more relevant to him than before that day and it wasn't until Detective Inspector Hardy had questioned Tom about his laptop, practically accusing Joe's son of the murder, that he had finally got a hold of his emotions. How many more could he destroy with lies and deceit?

No more, he had decided, and he would not drag his son down with him. So he turned on Danny's phone again and finally let the Detective Inspector find him.

After that the days went by in a blur as he waited to be put to justice. The anger and pain of those around him almost a relief because it meant that they knew the truth and that there would be no more accusations or death because of him. And maybe, just maybe, Danny would one day look down from heaven and forgive him for what he has done.

Even though Joe would never forgive himself.


End file.
